Browns finally coming to their senses in the Shedeur Sanders situation

Everybody seems to have an opinion about Shedeur Sanders as a human being, but in terms of football, there's really no argument against his situation being completely mishandled by the NFL this year. Regardless, all roads have led to where we are entering Week 13 of the 2025 season, where Sanders is poised to start his second consecutive game for the Cleveland Browns.

Sanders is the third starting quarterback for the Browns this season after both Joe Flacco and rookie Dillon Gabriel got opportunities before him. In his first start last week, Sanders became the first Browns rookie quarterback to win his first start since the team came back to the NFL in 1999.

Now, after seeing the spark he brought to the offense, the Browns have apparently come to their senses.

Browns finally open to giving Shedeur Sanders an extended look as the team's starter

In the lead up to the 2025 NFL Draft, Sanders was almost unanimously considered a 1st-round prospect at the quarterback position. In the days leading up to the draft, there were some reports that emerged saying he might fall out of the first round, which was already the biggest story of the first couple of days of the draft.

For Sanders to fall to the 5th round of the 2025 NFL Draft was egregious based on the way he played at Colorado and Jackson State before that, but he's now getting the opportunity to start for a team regardless of his draft status.

The Browns are playing at home in Week 13 against the San Francisco 49ers, who are coming off of a sloppy win against the Carolina Panthers. Regardless, that is going to be a rough matchup for Sanders this week, and a truly awesome opportunity to show what he can do.

And even though many in the media and football world will overreact to this one game no matter what happens, it just feels like this is the football universe setting things right. Sanders was always one of the most talented quarterback prospects in the class. His personality may not be for everyone, and that's okay.

Can he play? As in, long-term.

After a strong start against the Raiders last week, the Browns are going to get another look and try to find out.

We'll see if Sanders can start revving up future questions about whether or not the team can build around him, or whether he'll get an even longer runway into next season. If the season ended today, the Browns would be outside the top five picks of the 2026 NFL Draft.

They might find themselves outside the window of opportunity for a top quarterback prospect regardless, so Sanders playing well in this next stretch of games could end up being critical for the franchise.